Man sentenced in diner brawl

Skidmore student gets conditional discharge after pleading to assault

By LEIGH HORNBECK Staff writer

Updated 10:48 pm, Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Photo: Skip Dickstein

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Justin Tavarez, Skidmore student who pleaded guilty to assault 3rd after an altercation with a patron at Compton's restaurant in December leaves Saratoga Springs, N.Y. City Court after his sentencing April 12, 2011. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union) less

Justin Tavarez, Skidmore student who pleaded guilty to assault 3rd after an altercation with a patron at Compton's restaurant in December leaves Saratoga Springs, N.Y. City Court after his sentencing April 12, ... more

Photo: Skip Dickstein

Man sentenced in diner brawl

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SARATOGA SPRINGS -- A Skidmore College student who pleaded guilty to assault for smashing a plate over another man's head at a diner was sentenced Tuesday to a conditional discharge.

Justin Tavarez, 19, has a year to meet the conditions of the sentence, which comply with punishment decided upon by college officials. He must do 100 hours of community service, pay $348 by June 23 as restitution for the victim's medical bills and attend conflict resolution classes. If he fails to complete the conditions, Tavarez could be sentenced to one year in jail, the maximum penalty for a misdemeanor assault conviction. Tavarez and three friends from Skidmore got into a fight at 5:35 a.m. Dec. 18 with two men at Compton's restaurant on Broadway, police said. Tavarez hit a 42-year-old man over the head with a plate, causing cuts that required stitches. Police charged him with a hate crime because he reportedly used a racial slur during the fight. The charge was later dropped and Tavarez pleaded guilty to the assault charge. The other three men -- Sakhile C. Sithole, 20, of South Africa; Korvin E. Vicente, 19, of the Bronx; and Elijah A. Johnston, 19, of Brooklyn -- pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

The case attracted a lot of attention at first. The dean of student affairs at Skidmore was with the men at their arraignments. Susan Kress, the acting president of Skidmore, met with Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III and asked him to dismiss the hate crime charge. A group of professors distributed a letter on campus describing the defendants as "four soft-spoken and thoughtful young men" who have been "repeatedly misrepresented, continually marginalized and severely misunderstood."

A legal defense fund managed by the Troy NAACP was set up on the students' behalf and the public defender who represented Tavarez was replaced by William Dreyer. The case prompted meetings among Skidmore students to talk about race and cultural differences. The men at the center of the storm stayed silent. And although Tavarez said after his sentencing there was another side to the story, he didn't want to talk about it.

"I just want to put it behind me and move on," he said outside the police station after having his cheek swabbed for DNA.

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Judge Jeffrey Wait said in court Tavarez's presentencing report recommended probation, and that the probation officer who interviewed Tavarez was troubled by his "failure to accept responsibility" for the incident. Wait complimented Tavarez on his choice of a major -- philosophy -- and then told him he was going to have to learn to accept responsibility for his actions.

The judge reduced the sentence to a conditional discharge because Skidmore is imposing sanctions against Tavarez. If he drops out of college or transfers to another school, he will still have to complete his punishment.

College spokeswoman Andrea Wise released a statement Monday: "We think it is appropriate that, in his sentencing of Justin Tavarez, Judge Wait has taken into account the sanctions we have imposed in our student conduct system."